Sunday, November 23, 2008

Greenwald On Obama's Cabinet

Glenn Greenwald tries to explain things today to progressives:

I've been genuinely mystified by the disappointment and surprise being expressed by many liberals over the fact that Obama's most significant appointments thus far are composed of pure Beltway establishment figures drawn from the center-right of the Democratic Party and, probably once he names his Defense Secretary and CIA Director, even from the Bush administration -- but not from the Left.

He goes on to explain, rightly, that Obama is a centrist both by demeanor and political stance. Anyone who was actually paying attention would have known that. Most of the rest of the Democratic challengers, except for Richardson and Gravel, were more progressive than Obama. As Glenn observes, many progressives just saw what they wanted to see.

So, if you're at all surprised by what's going on, do yourself a favor and read the article. While you're doing it, contemplate these words that I wrote many months ago:

I'm going to give you some of the best advice you've ever read about politics. It requires effort. You have to learn things. You have to check out what politicians say, and you have to check out what people who say things about those politicians are saying. No one speaks the truth all the time, even those of us who try. Sometimes, we're wrong. Find out what the facts are, and then figure out who knows what the facts really are and how to interpret them.

A great many people in the "reality based community" simply didn't do their homework. Needless to say I don't find this shocking. It is discouraging, though. We don't have the money, so we need to be smarter than The Other Guys. Right now, I don't see us being any smarter.